Using Srvany to run an application as a Windows Service?

AlwaysUp is much better than Srvany and supports Windows 10/8/7 and Windows Server 2016/2012/2008 R2. Try it risk-free for 30 days!

So what's missing from Srvany?

The Windows NT Resource Kit introduced the Srvany.exe command-line utility,
which can be used to start any Windows NT/2000/2003 application as a service.
Srvany is basic and functional, and its price tag (free) makes it a fine choice for many environments.
However, most computer professionals will find that it is missing some important benefits
when compared to AlwaysUp:

No Windows 10/8/7 or Windows Server 2016/2012/2008 support: Srvany.exe was developed for Windows NT back in the 1990's and hasn't really changed since then.
Srvany will run on later versions of Windows, but it doesn't know about Remote Desktop,
UAC,
Session 0 isolation,
or anything else that has happened with Windows Services in the past decade.

No restarting / 100% uptime: If your application terminates unexpectedly, Srvany will not revive it. In fact, Srvany may continue to run, giving the false impression that your application is alive and well!

Doesn't stop your application: Stopping your Srvany service from the services control panel will terminate the srvany.exe process but Srvany will not close your application!
This can lead to great confusion as starting the service again will launch a second copy of your application. AlwaysUp will stop your application (and all its sub-processes) as expected.

No application monitoring: Srvany does not monitor your application at all -- it simply starts it, once. AlwaysUp can restart your application if it hogs the CPU, uses too much memory, or hangs.

No logging / Can fail silently: If Srvany fails to start your application, it doesn't write anything to the Windows Event Logs, a log file, or anywhere else. These scenarios can be very difficult to debug!
AlwaysUp writes all its activities to the Event Logs.

May not show your application's windows / taskbar-icon / GUI: Srvany may not be able to show your application's windows or task-tray icons. Several restrictions and caveats apply (for example, you must run in the system account,
on the console session, no RDP, etc.).
AlwaysUp can often get around those restrictions.

No email alerts: Srvany can not email you when your program fails and has to be restarted. AlwaysUp will do that, and send you daily/weekly reports summarizing your application's activities.

No scheduled restarts: For example, you can instruct AlwaysUp to restart your application (or reboot your computer) at 3 AM every day to cure memory leaks, etc. Not available with Srvany.exe.

No network drive support: Network drives mapped by your service account are not available when using Srvany. AlwaysUp can automatically restore your network drives.